Part 2- (It's now the next day!)
Hold the (in this case) 1 & 1/4" piece of glass upright in a pair of needlenose pliers. Get the mandrel hot-- it's not in this first photo as I only have 2 hands & 1 was manhandling a camera! I gently wave the glass in and out of the flame using UP and DOWN motions. I want the glass to warm up so it doesn't shock on me.
I get the end of the glass hot and keep the flame moving up the glass so that I get it all fairly even "red/orange" heat most of the way up the glass. Then I'm going to touch down on the mandrel gently and pull the glass out slightly as I turn the mandrel. My glass may or not get a perfect footprint but I don't worry about that as I find working this way, the glass will even itself out and find its own footprint.
Here you see the first wrap is on and I've let go of the glass.
Next I'll heat this up and let it find its own level of even. (Does that make sense?) As you can see in this photo, the formerly dangling end of the glass has melted in and you can see where I got it a bit superhot to help it join the bead.
Now it's the normal heat and take the bead outside the flame to let it round itself out. From the first photo with the glop of glass to here, you can see why I say the bead finds its own footprint. I may not have had it on perfectly... and, again, this is the best way I have found for myself to make 2 beads the same size. I am super impressed with those who can work off a rod and make matching beads but that skill seems to elude me.
Reheat the surface of the bead and roll it in frit. If you get the bead surface too hot, you're going to pick up a lot of frit. If it's too cool, not much will stick to the surface. That's an easy fix- just heat the surface a bit more and dip it a second time.
Here is that same bead with the frit melted in.
This is a close up of my mandrel and the "Smircich" way of using the corner of a graphite marver. I have super shaky hands. I always have. When I am twirling/turning my mandrel, my bead does not get a smooth turn UNLESS I put the end of the mandrel in this drilled out hollow on the corner tip of my graphite marver. Then I use both hands- turning the mandrel in my left and using my right to both hold the graphite marver and eyeing the mandrel to keep it level.
I'll come back tomorrow with pictures of my finished beads... hopefully they'll be a fairly matched set of 5 frit beads in graduated sizes!
Sue